Israelis arrest dozens as Hamas leaders weigh cease-fire

JERUSALEM -- Israeli soldiers swept through a West Bank city Tuesday, arresting dozens of suspected Hamas activists as Palestinian officials awaited a response from the Islamic militant group about a proposal to suspend attacks against Israel.

Also Tuesday, leaders of the Israeli Arab Islamic Movement were indicted on charges of helping Hamas through illegal transfers of millions of dollars.

Palestinian officials and Egyptian mediators have expressed optimism that Hamas would accept a moratorium on attacks against Israel.

Supporters view the proposal as a means of winding down 33 months of Mideast violence, but skeptics in Israel fear any moratorium would give Hamas time to regroup for more violence.

Hamas has walked away from seemingly promising truce efforts in the past, and the violence and recriminations that have accompanied recent talks between Hamas and Palestinian officials have added a measure of uncertainty.

Still, Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher said Tuesday in Cairo, "There is a feeling of optimism that something like this (a truce) will be announced in the next few days."

Israel Radio also quoted a senior Israeli military officer as telling legislators that Hamas would accept a three-month cease-fire in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip as well as in Israel proper -- a key Israeli demand to ensure that settlers and soldiers would not face attack. The report could not be confirmed.

A Palestinian official said on condition of anonymity that Hamas might in principle accept a truce, but it was setting conditions that Israel might not accept.

Israel -- which prefers a Palestinian crackdown on the militant groups -- appears ready to scale down targeted killings of militants. But it is unlikely to agree to other demands, such as releasing thousands of jailed militants.

Israel also insists that the cease-fire period be used to dismantle the militant groups -- as called for in a U.S.-backed peace plan -- but Hamas leaders said they would not lay down their arms.

Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas favors dialogue to secure a cease-fire, rejecting a crackdown because, he fears, it might trigger a civil war. Also, he says, Palestinian security has been decimated by repeated Israeli attacks and would be unable to confront Hamas head-on.

However, the "road map" to peace, sponsored by the United States, European Union, Russia and United Nations, calls for "dismantlement of terrorist capabilities and infrastructure," including "confiscation of illegal weapons and consolidation of security authority."

The peace plan, which also calls on Israel to freeze settlement construction in the West Bank and Gaza, is to lead to a Palestinian state in 2005.

But attacks on Israelis by militants and military strikes against them by Israel have hampered implementation since President Bush formally launched the plan on June 4. Despite its limitations and Israeli reservations, a declared truce could provide an opportunity for movement.

In Gaza, Hamas spokesman Mahmoud Zahar said that "nobody will give up his arms" until the Israeli occupation ends. He also warned that if Abbas' forces tried to disarm the militants, thousands "will demonstrate, will throw stones, will shout."

Israel kept up pressure on Hamas. In an overnight sweep through the West Bank city of Hebron, Israeli soldiers rounded up about 130 Palestinians suspected of links with the group, the military said.

On June 11, a Hamas suicide bomber from Hebron blew up a bus in Jerusalem, killing 17 passengers and bystanders. On Saturday, Israeli soldiers shot and killed the Hamas leader in Hebron, Abdullah Kawasme.

The detainees, including relatives of Hamas suicide bombers and Kawasme's sister-in-law, were taken to an Israeli base on the outskirts of Hebron. They sat in a large, open-sided tent, handcuffed and blindfolded, and were taken in groups into a nearby building for interrogation.

Adnan Kawasme, 17, a relative of the slain Hamas leader, said troops came to his house and shoved him with rifle butts. The high school student said he was released after eight hours.

In the northern Israeli port city of Haifa, meanwhile, a leader of the Islamic Movement in Israel, Sheik Raed Salah, and four others were charged with funneling money to Hamas and having contacts with an Iranian agent in Lebanon.

The indictment, filed in the Haifa District Court, said the defendants transferred at least $6.8 million from Hamas institutions abroad to activists in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Hundreds of Arabs, many of them carrying green Islamic banners, protested outside the Haifa courthouse. Several Israeli Arab leaders have said the trial is meant to intimidate Israel's 1.2 million-strong Arab community, almost a fifth of the nation's population.

Torn for decades between their Israeli citizenship and Arab heritage, many Israeli Arabs have been radicalized by the violence and identify strongly with the Palestinians.